Keywords

3.1 Introduction

In the knowledge-based economy people are the basic element of building a durable competitive advantage. Creating employee involvement is obligatory in human resource management (HRM). Staff engagement enables the optimal use of human capital. Hence it belongs to the most often defined challenges concerning the personnel policy. Only the companies, able to gain a high level of employee involvement can survive in the dynamic and competitive market. In contrast, lack of a sufficient personnel engagement may essentially hinder the organizational development. The impact of engagement on the company functioning creates the growth of managers’ interest in this issue. This results from a changing managers’ attitude caused by the changing labor market, and the development of knowledge concerning HRM accompanied by the implementation of the new practice.

Despite many theories presented in literature, which can preciously inspire managers, one still seeks new solutions. An important topic of discussion are tools of building the engagement. They include, according to the author, the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR). This chapter is aimed at analysis of these aspects of CSR, which accompany the HRM process (both at the stage of recruitment and during the work) and are directed towards creating employee involvement. This analysis embraces:

  1. a.

    The identification of pro-social practice in the area of responsible HRM;

  2. b.

    The assessment of the usefulness of employee volunteering in the process of building their engagement.

To realize this goal, the method of critical analysis of literature and a case study were used.

3.2 The Essence and Meaning of Employee Involvement

W. A. Kahn, a pioneer of research on engagement, understood work involvement as a full conjunction of a person’s professional role with his/her identity (Kahn 1990, pp. 692–724).Footnote 1 On the other hand, A. M. Saks believes that it is the person’s intellectual and emotional devotion to his/her organization, resulting in the amount of effort given by that employee to work (Saks 2006, p. 600). In turn, Andrew and Sofian state that involvement concerns emotional and motivation state (Andrew and Sofian 2012, pp. 498–508), which connects the will and ability to work. Here, involvement is the expression of the strength of the employee’s relationship with the organization. So, involvement/engagement is commonly understood as personal identification with the organizational values and goals, willingness to make a great effort to work for the organization and continue the person’s participation in its development, and engaging above standards. M. Juchnowicz purports that engagement can be seen as an employee’s attitude, as the involvement, and as the behavior serving the exchange of counterparts between the worker and organization (Juchnowicz 2012, p. 33).

Literature describes three kinds of engagement (Meyer and Allen 1991, pp. 61–98; Spik and Klincewicz 2008, p. 477; Schultz and Schultz 2002, p. 318; McGee and Rennie 2012, p. 14), which can appear simultaneously:

  1. 1.

    Affective Commitment understood as an employee’s emotional relationship to the organization based on passion and satisfaction. The employee identifies himself/herself with the organization and takes its norms as his/her own. Durability and authenticity characterize this type of engagement.

  2. 2.

    Continuance Commitment, also defined as rational, because it is the result of cost and benefit calculation connected with staying in the organization. It has an instrumental character, because such employees work for the company only to fulfill their needs, and when they cannot get a more satisfying job. In this case the tasks are done in an appropriate way, and according to the standards, but without the person’s identification with the organizational goals.

  3. 3.

    Normative Commitment—associated with some kind of moral obligation. It results from the belief that working for an organization is morally justified, regardless of whether and how many advantages it guarantees for an employee staying with the company, because of situations caused by commitments (e.g. loan repayment, working off training obligations). The level of this commitment is defined as moderate.

From the viewpoint of efficiency in the organizational goals realization, employees need the involvement rooted in the inner conviction and passion, and one resulting from their sense of duty or rational calculation motivated by their desire to fulfill one’s own needs, or forced by difficulties present on the labor market (Juchnowicz 2012, p. 42).

The recently observed growth of interest in the issue of employee involvement, noticed both among theorists and practitioners of management, results from advantages for an organization brought by managing the engagement. Corporate Leadership Council’s research showed that an involved employee makes a 57% higher effort than the not-involved one; the rise of involvement by 10% translates into the increase in contribution of work and the 2% growth of work effects (Chabior 2013). The relation of the involved employees to the uninvolved ones in companies, which are market leaders is 10 to 1 (Gallup Study 2012). Other presented researches in literature indicate a positive impact of engagement on: the level of job satisfaction, safety at work, employee turnover, talent stability, group integration, change introduction and fast acceptance, employee learning, level of loyalty and satisfaction of clients, productivity, facing challenges in difficult conditions of reorganization, financial results of the company and shareholder return (Croston et al. 1998, p. 247; Ayers 2006, p. 11; Xanthopoulou et al. 2009, pp. 237–240; Simpson 2009, p. 1020; Juchnowicz 2012, pp. 42–44; Croston 2008, p. 8; Macey et al. 2009, pp. 2–3; Cook 2008, p. 19). Some authors even believe that employee involvement has a greater impact on the results of work than job satisfaction (Bugdol 2007, p. 89). Engaged employees are more creative, understand customers better, bring a higher profit to the company and greatly contribute to shaping a good reputation of their employer (Harter et al. 2010, pp. 378–389). Hence, striving for keeping the involvement at the possibly high level is greatly justified. So, it is not surprising that managers are increasingly interested in stimulating and measuring involvement.

In the so far performed studies some factors shaping employee involvement were identified. The most often mentioned ones are (Saks 2006, pp. 604–606; Croston 2008; Macey et al. 2009, pp. 5–6; Smythe 2009, p. 105, Simpson 2009, p. 1020; Juchnowicz 2012, pp. 53–57; Meyer et al. 1991, pp. 717–733; Robinson et al. 2004, p. 23):

  • Good interpersonal relationships (with superiors, subordinates, associates);

  • Interesting job;

  • Participation in the decision-making process;

  • Fair treatment and decent working conditions;

  • Fair payment;

  • Development chances;

  • Independence in operation;

  • Good internal communication.

In literature authors also underline the meaning of the cultural background, supporting systems and structures, values and ethics as well as the employer reputation. An important determinant of engagement is also the level of requirements and resources available at work (Bakker and Demerouti 2014, pp. 37–65; Halbesleben 2010, pp. 102–117). The number and variety of factors many possibilities of stimulating one’s employees. It is worth saying that the process of building involvement requires a holistic attitude, because both, individual features of an employee and an idiosyncrasy of organization providing specified stimuli, influence the worker (Bugdol 2006, p. 16).

In literature, problems connected with building involvement are articulated and seen as one of the key challenges for HRM managers. Namely, 31.4% of employees (out of 440,000 employed in 5500 companies) were not involved in work, and the next 25% stated that they are “just doing” their jobs (Quantum Workplace 2015, by The Gallup Organization, 2015). In turn, the research performed in Europe on a group of 11,000 employees working for PwC showed that 15% of workers had low motivation and stated high probability of leaving the company. What was more, only 2 out of 5 employees intended to work for the present employer for at least one year (ADP 2017). Even more worrying results were presented in the report prepared in 2017 by AON Hewitt. The analysis, embracing over 5,000,000 employees in 1000 organizations around the world showed that the involvement decreased from 65% in 2015 to 63% in 2016. Moreover, 24% of respondents described their level of involvement as “high”, and the next 39% as “moderate” (AON 2017).

In the light of the above-mentioned results the importance of employee involvement for gaining organizational goals should bring no doubts. However, taking into consideration the still insufficient effects shown in research, one can say that there is a competency gap in the efficient management of involvement. In this context, searching for effective tools of shaping employee engagement becomes critical. One of the practically underestimated strategies of building involvement is using CSR principles in the HRM process.

3.3 Internal CSR as a Significant Dimension of the Organization Functioning

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), being an issue at the intersection of management, economics and ethics, is a wide category defined in many different ways (Dahlsrud 2008, pp. 1–11). However, most definitions concentrate around five dimensions: social, economic, environmental, voluntary, and stakeholders (Wierciński 2011, p. 60). “The essential characteristic of social responsibility is the willingness of an organization to incorporate social and environmental considerations in its decision making and be accountable for the impacts of its decisions and activities on society and the environment. This implies both transparent and ethical behavior that contributes to sustainable development, is in compliance with applicable law and is consistent with international norms of behavior. It also implies that social responsibility is integrated throughout the organization, is practiced in its relationships and takes into account the interests of stakeholders” (ISO 26000:2010[E], p. 6).

Generally, CSR is a concept of doing business balancing the needs of various stakeholders with making profit (O’Sullivan 2010, p. 259; Robbins and DeCenzo 2002, p. 101; Porter and Kramer 2011, pp. 80–87; Gadomsk-Lila 2012, p. 42; Wolkowicka and Dabrowski 2012, p. 80). CSR is expressed in a voluntary inclusion of stakeholders’ needs into a company’s strategy. The performances of socially responsible organizations generate both economic and social effects. The primary objective of these organizations is maximizing their contribution to sustainable development, including health and welfare of the society. This development is based on the following principles (ISO 26000:2010[E], p. 4):

  • The organization’s responsibility for its impact on society, economy and the environment;

  • Transparency in decisions and activities;

  • Ethical behavior based on honesty and justice;

  • The respect for human rights and stakeholders’ interests;

  • The compliance with the law and international norms of behavior.

CSR is a holistic approach, which takes into consideration the interdependence between the economic, social and environmental aspects of the organization’s activities and is closely linked to corporate governance and sustainable development; in the modern world an overarching objective of an organization’s social responsibility should be to contribute to sustainable development, in all ways, available for the company.

Complying with CSR principles contributes to the growth of a company’s competitiveness in six important areas, influencing the organization’s success; these are: company’s cost structure, available human resources, the customers’ perception of it, its innovativeness, its risk management, and its financial efficiency (European Commission 2008). CSR is, therefore, a modern instrument for increasing the enterprise’s value and competitive advantage. In the range of CSR initiatives, an organization can take numerous actions, classified in two dimensions (Kalinowska 2012, p. 333; Stawicka 2010, p. 6; Sudoł 2002, p. 72):

  • Internal dimension (embracing relationships with employees);

  • External dimension (embracing relationships with stakeholders outside the organization, e.g. with suppliers, customers, competitors, and community).

The key areas under the framework of the internal dimension include HRM, defined as all activities directed towards providing an organization, in a given time and place, with the required number of adequately qualified employees, and creating conditions stimulating the effective behavior of staff, consistent with the goal of that enterprise (Pocztowski 1998, p. 28). Recently, this sphere matters increasingly. The need for using CSR principles in internal relationships is growing with the increasing human factor’s importance in shaping organizational competitiveness. Employees are crucial in gaining organizational success as both the internal stakeholders and creators of relationships with external stakeholders (Ratajczak et al. 2012, p. 382). Therefore, the importance of CSR in shaping the relationships with employees is growing.

The research concerning the internal dimension of CSR concentrates on topics such as: the impact of CSR on the level of employees’ satisfaction, attitudes and behaviors (Rupp et al. 2006; Fukukawa et al. 2007), contributing to the level of trust in the company, and the candidates’ attitudes in the recruitment process (Turban and Greening 1997).

The analysis conducted so far shows that the CSR activities positively influence the degree of employee identification with the company, engagement, productivity and willingness to stay with the organization longer (Borkowska 2005, p. 25). Besides, firms socially responsible towards employees, experience less absence and turnover and much less unethical behaviors (Kim et al. 2010, pp. 557–569; Burton and Goldsby 2009, pp. 145–154; Wojtczuk-Turek 2011). Advantages concerning the internal dimension of CSR include the rise of the level of organizational culture, attracting and retaining the best employees and improving the quality of management (Greszta 2010, p. 83; Gadomsk-Lila 2012, p. 45; Borkowska 2005, p. 25; Argenti 2016). The research shows that social responsibility towards employees is believed to be important in practice, but it is still not sufficiently recognized, and the undertaken initiatives do not form a common standard (Gadomsk-Lila 2012, pp. 41–52). Due to the importance of building employee involvement for organizational success, an essential area of studies is the CSR’s impact on the level of staff engagement. It is expressed in many pro-social activities at different stages of the HRM realization.

3.4 Responsible Human Resource Management

Theories attempting to explain the emergence of employee involvement, and define the sources of modification of its level, include the social exchange theory. It assumes that employees getting some resources from their company, they feel obliged to pay back more with their involvement. However, when the organization does not provide staff with the sufficient emotional, social and economic goods, its employees tend to withdraw and to not engage in the realization of their roles in such a company (Saks 2006, p. 602). This theory seems to justify the importance of CSR in the process of creating involvement, because implementing CSR strategy in HRM becomes a source of numerous emotional and social stimuli for employees.

The compliance with CSR principles means socially responsible management; but responsible HRM reaches beyond respecting employer liabilities arising from legal rules. It aims to increase work efficiency and quality, but it also considers employees’ abilities and various needs (Moczydłowska 2010, p. 220). Thus, the management is based on the principles of reciprocal respect, justice and transparency of activities in the time of recruitment, period of work, and its completion.

The concern about employees as a part of socially responsible activity finds its dimensions in the realization of the respective HRM stages (from recruitment and selection to motivation, appraisal and development to employment restructuring), and results from the need of creating good relationships between an employer and employee. The realization of CSR principles in HRM means an ethical attitude towards staff at every HRM stage, especially fair and just treatment. Fairness is understood here as impartiality, honesty and refraining from violence and constrain; and distributive justice, as a remuneration proportional to the contribution towards gaining the organizational goal (Stor 2010, pp. 448–449). Table 3.1 shows examples of pro-social practices, which can be implemented in the respective HRM stages and can foster creating employee involvement.

Table 3.1 Chosen pro-social practices in HRM
Full size table

Therefore, one can say that human resource management creates a wide area for fulfilling the CSR concept. Building employee engagement starts at the stage of a person’s first contact with the company; hence the selection process is very important. Ethical selection means that it is not only fulfilling legal regulations, but also respects the candidates’ beliefs, privacy and dignity. Taking into consideration both: The Labor Code and CSR principles, the discrimination of candidates on the grounds of sex, age, disability, race, religion, nationality, political views, union membership, ethnicity, or sexual orientation is unacceptable. The use of discriminatory practices can bring both a negative image of the company, and legal consequences. The basic precondition of a socially responsible recruitment is the honest employment offer, expressed in an impartial description of the real situation of the company and the specifics of the position offered. Concealing information, which is crucial for the decision on participating in the process of recruitment is questionable from an ethical viewpoint (http://nf.pl/manager/pracodawca-bledy-rekrutacji,,14605,39, 4 October 2017). These are first of all:

  • Lack of information about payment, in job advertisement,

  • Creating an attractive name for the job to increase its prestige,

  • Hiding the name of the company under the name of recruitment organization, or placing classified information,

  • Using false information about payment, promotion opportunities and professional development,

  • Unscrupulous employee poaching.

The concept of Candidate Experience also matches CSR. It underlines the need to create and maintain positive relationships with all candidates, including those who were not chosen in the given recruitment procedure. An important element here is studying the satisfaction of all candidates after the completed process, because their opinions are basic resources for this process improvement.

Compliance with CSR principles is equally important in the selection process. An ethical job interview should concentrate on substantive issues and the problems vital from the viewpoint of job efficiency. The questions should verify knowledge, predispositions, experience and skills necessary for the position. They should neither discriminate nor be personal. Inquiring about the candidate’s personal life details or using unmeritorious criteria (e.g. friendship) in the employment process is not acceptable.

Another important period of shaping employee involvement is the adaptation process, when the person is getting used to work and finds out more about the company. Preconditions of performing the task effectively, and a legal obligation of the employer, include informing employees about their responsibilities. The adaptation process should cover introducing the person to the organizational culture and core values, aimed to create the attitude consistent with the organizational ethical model. Short-term employment (based on fee-for-task agreement or fixed-term contract) does not foster employee involvement.

In the area of motivation, the wage policy is crucial from the CSR viewpoint. Wages should be equitable and fair. The wage is equitable, when it ensures the employee and his/her family an adequate standard of living, which prevents poverty (Borkowska 1999, p. 13). In turn, a fair wage should consider the kind, quantity and labor input. According to the J. S. Adams’s theory of justice, one decides about one’s engagement analyzing whether one was awarded fairly (in comparison to others) (Adams 1963). Both, the states of undervaluation, and overvaluation can be reasons for frustration, which disables creation of a high level of involvement. Hence, objective criteria shaping the work results should be used in setting remuneration. First of all, a fair wage must match the employee’s efficiency. The amount of remuneration should be proportional to the requirements obligatory for the job and the effects of work. To assess those factors one needs the work evaluation process and appraisal of work results. Besides, adhering to the principle of justice requires similar remuneration for similar jobs.

Employee participation fits into the CSR framework, which assumes consideration of stakeholders’ expectations and needs. It is the basic tool for building involvement through the increase of employees’ awareness of the problem. Direct participation, strengthening the role of employees in the process of decision making, is especially important (Armstrong 2003, p. 636). It can support managers in that process and can be considered as: participation in decision making processes, requesting a decision, preparing projects, co-decision, legitimating (leaving part of the decision to employees), expressing opinions, making decisions, participation in the implementation, and the supervision of execution (Pawlak 2003, p. 319). Financial participation is understood as additional remuneration for employees dependent on the profit or other measures of the company’s performance (e.g. employee participation in the profit or savings resulting from the cost reduction of production, employee share ownership) (Janowska 2010, p. 137; Borkowska 2001, pp. 361–371). The postulate of staff participation also embraces decisions concerning one’s professional development.

A sense of justice can be assured only by a properly constructed assessment system. Adhering to CSR principles in the process of creating that system matters, because such a system is a base for all the staff concerning decisions. The complexity and consequences of appraisal process stimulate a lot of controversy and apprehension among employees, who believe that the system is fair only, when they can see a relationship between an individual assessment and the level of gratification (Sidor-Rządkowska 2015, p. 169). Compliance with CSR principles in assessing requires employee involvement in all stages of the appraisal process. Employees should participate in setting of goals and assessment criteria, and analyzing together with superiors the efficiency of the methods and procedures used. The appraisal system consistent with CSR:

  • Serves a purpose which is clearly determined and known by the rater and the evaluated;

  • Is open and accepted by employees;

  • Is clear and based on objective assessment criteria;

  • Embraces all employees without discrimination or preference; and

  • Ensures connection between the assessment results and HRM decisions.

An appraisal interview is crucial for shaping the employee involvement. An ethical interview enables employees to present their own arguments and fosters elaborating ways of improving the situation when the personal performance or behavior is assessed negatively. It should cover the analysis of strengths and weaknesses; its effect should motivate employees to improve their quality and efficiency of work, and address new challenges. The interview should have a form of dialogue, when the employee and his/her superior discuss every element of his/her responsibilities. The conversation must happen in an atmosphere of reciprocal trust and cooperation and stimulate elaborating ways of solving problems.

The barriers in using CSR potential in the appraisal process may include the raters’ mistakes. One should avoid both: the system errors (connected with the improper choice of methods and criteria as well as improper assessment procedures), and the mistakes in the evaluation art (e.g. excessive leniency or severity of assessment, lack of objectivity, or the first impression effect). Social responsibility requires the elimination of such mistakes, because they can result in unethical HRM decisions, diminishing employee involvement, or even in the loss of valuable human capital.

A meaningful area for the CSR principles realization is the development of employees. Such investment is crucial for the company’s value to grow. On the one hand, investment must fulfill the present and future organizational needs for having employees with the required qualifications; on the other hand, it offers the staff stability of professional career and self-actualization. Employee whose career development is clearly defined, are more eager to get involved in work. The implementation of the CSR concept in the HR development requires special care for adhering to the principle of equal access to qualifications raising. Equal treatment of employees regardless of gender, age, race, or other social and demographic factors belongs into the diversity management concept (Bombiak 2014, p. 112). One of its dimensions is ensuring equal opportunities for men and women in the workplace. Despite elaborate legislation concerning preventing discrimination, and numerous EU directives stimulating the realization of the men and women equality principle, there are still many barriers limiting the opportunities of career development for women. Hence implementing CSR principles in this area is a desirable support.

Another important area of CSR towards employees is the concern about health and safety at work expressed in creating safe and ergonomic work conditions. Attention to health and safety regulations belongs to the aspects used to measure the general advancement of companies in CSR implementation (Kaźmierczak 2009, p. 11). This influences positively the employee involvement, and impacts the company’s position in the labor market, making such a firm more attractive for potential employees. By contrast, neglecting the issue of health and safety at work increases absenteeism, which results in financial loss. Equally important is the physical and mental condition of employees. A high level of stress and tiredness lowers the quality of human capital and its efficiency. So, investment in employees’ health belongs to the basic activities of responsible employers.

In the context of creating conditions suitable for building employee involvement and shaping positive relationships, workplace harassment prevention matters, too. A persistent and long-lasting persecution or threat, resulting in the understated assessment of professional suitability, and humiliation or ridiculing of employees, their isolation or elimination from a team, are a kind of psychological or social violence, and therefore unethical and irrational (Buczma 2007, p. 54). Workplace harassment is especially correlated with the assessment, motivation and development processes, i.e. these stages of personnel process which determine the possibilities of using human potential in an organization (Bombiak 2015, pp. 201–203). Overall, one can conclude that workplace harassment belongs to the main barriers in building employee involvement; hence, its prevention is vital both from the CSR perspective, and legal obligations of employers.

The concept of work-life balance can also fit into the framework of socially responsible initiatives which matter from the viewpoint of building engagement. Essencialy, it facilitates combining work with the other dimensions of human life such as home, family, social activities and individual interests. Flexible forms of employment and teleworking give opportunities to better time use. Another aid in the satisfactory joining different social roles can be various facilities, e.g. a company’s nursery or kindergarten, a room for breast feeding, family insurance, helping out financially with holiday trips for children, Christmas presents, longer maternal leaves, additional medical care, picnics and family parties (Leoński 2015, p. 134). Such activities foster reducing social inequalities, by helping people who are in difficult situations, e.g. single mothers or disabled people, to become professionally active.

Another area where fulfilling CSR principles is especially important and very difficult is employment restructuring. It is often connected with redundancy; therefore it belongs to the most difficult managerial tasks, especially when an employee who participated in the company’s success should be dismissed. Elaborating principles and forms of dismissal belongs to the most neglected parts of HRM policy. Lay-offs should always be a last resort and should not be overused. It is vital that when the decision is taken all the actions are matching the law and CSR principles.

An example of good practice is outplacement. This is a program of extensive care: managerial, psychological, organizational and legal, institutional and even medical care concerning dismissed employees (Makowski 2001, p. 167; Sidor-Rządkowska 2010, pp. 110–115). This helps to minimize the negative consequences of dismissal. The most common forms are psychological and professional counselling, financing of training and supplementary education courses, help in finding a new employer or starting one’s own business. The purpose of outplacement is psychological and factual support for a dismissed employee and help in building a positive attitude towards a challenge of finding a new job. Caring about the form of parting with the company is not only an ethical requirement but also an investment in the company’s image and engagement of the remaining staff.

To sum up, one can state that the necessary but not sufficient condition to built employee involvement is using CSR principles in the HRM strategy. It is especially important in Polish conditions. This conclusion can be drawn after analyzing the results of research from 2012 where 74% of respondents (out of 767 total) said that ethical principles are broken in companies very often or often. At the same time 92% of them expected the company to get involved in stimulating its internal ethical culture (Sroka 2012, pp. 17–19).

3.5 Employee Volunteering as a Social Tool of Building Engagement

According to Archie B. Carroll employee volunteering creates the highest level of corporate social responsibility. This is the element of philanthropic responsibility, which organizations gain after reaching the levels of economic, legal and ethical responsibilities (Visser 2005, p. 240). The core of employee volunteering is self-imposed work for pro-social initiatives. Employee-volunteers perform various jobs for people in need, using their skills and abilities; the company supports their activities financially, materially or organizationally. Inherently the character of those activities is gratuitous (Lustyk 2014, p. 85).

The forms of employee volunteering depend on the company’s financial and organizational resources, social needs, and the employees’ creativity and initiatives. The chosen forms are presented in Table 3.2. Most often people participate in nationwide charity actions, business people’s original programs, employees’ original programs, raising money and gifts, helping with renovation of public buildings, or actions connected with blood and marrow donation (Komosa and Dorska 2008, pp. 11–14; Bargieł 2011, p. 73). The beneficiaries of this aid are often educational institutions taking care of children, and nursing homes. The strategies of building employee involvement through volunteering include giving financial grants and organizational support for employee projects directed towards fulfilling the needs of the local community (Wolontariat pracowniczy w Polskich firmach, Raport 2011).

Table 3.2 Forms of employee volunteering
Full size table

Employee volunteering can also support cross-sectoring partnership. Collaboration between enterprises and universities provide good examples, where both parties take advantage of exchanging knowledge and interpenetration of academic and business approaches (Buczkowski 2016, pp. 90–91). Volunteering takes the form of free-of-charge knowledge and skills sharing; it also includes substantive, financial and organizational support in research projects, organization of workshops, scientific internships and conferences, participation in the elaboration of academic syllabuses, and performing lectures.

The implementation of employee volunteering in a company is a complex project, and its success depends on its good preparation, hence it is worth learning from the best ones. An example of good practice concerning employee volunteering is Kampania Piwowarska, a leader in the brewing industry in the Polish market. In this company volunteering has been practiced for 17 years and it belongs to the ten priorities of the organization’s sustainable development.Footnote 2 The first action rooted in the initiative and involvement of employees; it was preparing Christmas gifts for chosen families, which now is an established tradition called “The Father Christmas Team” (Ekipa Świętego Mikołaja). In just one edition of the initiative employees realized 21 projects for 150,000 PLN. Over time, this action become a year-round help for people in need, and not only Christmas parcels. The aid concerns various areas according to the principle “we help not only on special occasions, but every day”. From 2008 this initiative has been a systematic program of employee volunteering called “The Team not only on Special Occasions”. Its participants transferred their activities from helping individual people to collaborating with socially trusted and credible social partners. The projects, realized in this framework, concern educational, didactic, sport, cultural and health care areas; all of them match the real needs of local communities. Good examples include building a playground for disabled children from one of the schools in Białystok, the organization of Christmas Eve supper for homeless people, or an orphanage redecoration. Also very original events, like the organization of a circus performance, have taken place among numerous initiatives.

In 2012 “The Volunteers’ Campaign” (Kompania Wolontariuszy) started, aimed at financial and organizational support to institutions working for the common good and non-governmental organizations, especially underlying long-lasting effects. This is a long-term program in which employees work (for free) for social organizations. Four times a year the employee can choose an organization to work for, and elaborate a support project. The Program Board (Rada Programowa) assessed proposals with essential and formal criteria, and choses the best projects. Employees support the needy in four ways: project volunteering (long-lasting collaboration with the chosen organizations), action volunteering (one-off supportive initiative), competence volunteering (sharing knowledge and skills), and actions during integration trips. Only in 2012 thirty projects were completed, with 184 employees involved using 1607 working hours. The result was that 30 institutions (associations, foundations and educational organizations) received a financial support of 332,500 PLN.

This company encourages its employees to participate in volunteering, including placing posters in many different places of its offices, all the time. There is also a tool called Volunteering Platform, which is the internet base of projects, being a bridge between volunteers and various organizations—that is the people in need and the people who want to help. This enables integration of all volunteers from Kampania Piwowarska. A new development is giving organizations, needing volunteers, opportunities to present their own projects.

Voluntary actions are still one of the points in the agenda of employees’ meetings. In July and August 2015 the staff supported the Trzeźwobus (Sober bus) mobility area of sobriety checking, which could be met in different Polish places during big outdoor events. Except the responsible alcohol consumption actions the employees also supported pro-ecological initiatives encouraging people to keep the environment clean. The mobile areas of Kampania Piwowarska were visited by 100,000 people, and 68,000 copies of the information materials were distributed, reminding participants about the necessity and advantages of moderate alcohol consumption and ecological behaviors.

In the 2016 edition “The Volunteers’ Campaign” realized 31 projects. Some of them came from employees; the others responded to suggestions and needs of various external organizations. The area of activities, consistent with the sustainable development of the company, was very wide – from the help for adult socially excluded people, the aid for local communities, to ecology and revitalization. The projects realized in the framework of “The Volunteers’ Campaign” covered bailout, and volunteers doing concrete work. In that edition the staff redecorated buildings, did different chores, held workshops for unemployed women, and helped create a cook-book for disabled people, joining the workshop for professional activation. The biggest voluntary project of Kampania Piwowarska in its whole history was called Szlachetna Paczka (The Noble Box Project) 2016, where 1350 volunteers were involved (every second employee of the company), and the value of funded parcels amounted to 212,513 PLN (Raport zrównowazonego rozwoju 2016, p. 45).

In 2017, 2310 employees participated in voluntary actions. One of the programs was called “Postaw na ruch” (Bet on moving), where every kilometer of the race, or cycling counted for charity purposes, i.e. tandem cycling clubs for blind people. In another action “Dress for Success, Poland” employees organized workshops for 42 women, citizens of Greater Poland facing long-lasting unemployment. After participating in this project 75% of them found jobs (Raport zrównowazonego rozwoju Kampanii Piwowarskiej 2017, p. 39).

This shows that employee volunteering in the company has been evolving thanks to the staff engagement, and together with this process the quality of the used tools has been developed. It has been not only a method of integrating employees and developing their competences, but also helping the needy. For Kompania Piwowarska this is also a way of investing in the good of the local community. Employee volunteering fosters helping several needy groups in many ways; it also enables finding a suitable form of engagement for each employee.

Voluntary social involvement stimulates employee development, going beyond everyday routine, and gaining new skills. Voluntary activities also let people discover new (often not realized) talents and abilities, develop organizational and managerial skills, and shape creative thinking. During voluntary actions employees gain many interpersonal competences. Among others, they learn empathy, sensitivity, the art of conversation, persuasion and assertiveness. The kind of skills depend on the character of volunteering. Some employees learn hard skills: renovation or installation works, or attain skills of finance management (e.g. preparing the estimated budget of a project or settling an invoice) (Żurek 2012). The experience of companies involved in volunteering shows that it essentially increases employee satisfaction and engagement. It also fosters building trust and shaping positive relationships among employees. Besides, it enables the staff to relieve stress connected with work and put some perspective into one’s own life. And last but not least, it improves communication inside the company and widens employees’ knowledge about social problems.

Volunteering is also an effective tool of the internal and external employer branding, because it can be a decisive factor in employees’ decision about staying or leaving the company, when receiving another attractive job-offer. In this way volunteering supports loyalty and makes the organization more attractive for its staff. Then, employee volunteering improves the company’s reception by customers and business partners. So, there are many beneficiaries of volunteering, and employers, employees and local communities enjoy its benefits.

3.6 Conclusions

The modern HRM policy faces new challenges. The observed trends – low birth rate, ageing society, decreasing unemployment and migrations increasingly create conditions for the employee market. Hence, employers encounter growing difficulties in attracting competent employees, and candidates for a job have higher expectations towards organizations. This situation brings new challenges in HRM. In the perspective of constant change, the strategies of employee activation require a continuous verification, which brings forth the need for new instruments to influence employees.

Employee involvement belongs to the key elements of appropriate HRM policy as an important purpose defined in the framework of HRM concept, whose realization determines the possibility of using human capital. It was proven in this chapter that CSR can be an effective tool for building employee engagement and better use of their potential. The social dimension of CSR evidenced the meaning of human factor as the most important organizational asset. Thanks to implementing a good practice of social responsibility, employees feel like valuable elements in the company. The impact of CSR initiatives on shaping the engagement can be direct or indirect. The indirect interaction takes place in the socially responsible HRM process. Employees’ involvement in social initiatives realized by the company expresses a direct impact. Employee volunteering is here the most common form. A precondition of making this instrument useful is treating CSR not only as an image tool, but as an instrument of dialogue with employees. A socially responsible attitude should infiltrate all activities at every stage of the HRM process from attracting employees to their dismissal.

The afore-mentioned results of research and managerial practice show that the CSR concept is increasingly popular; however, still many business people cannot see it as an efficient solution for improving the quality of HRM. This suggests the necessity of dissemination of knowledge concerning the usefulness of pro-social attitude in the area of management and underlining the connection between the implementation of its assumptions and reaching HRM goals. CSR should be permanently incorporated in HRM strategy, because in this way one can gain positive results of an appropriate perception of the company by external and internal stakeholders. In the longer perspective, socially responsible activities should be treated as a kind of investment, which pays via growing employee involvement, better work results, better chances for development, growing investors’ trust, which foster effective capital allocation and facilitates gaining investment goals. Taking into consideration a dynamic situation in the labor market, one can expect that CSR will be more often used as a tool of realizing HRM policy. However, one must highlight that implementing CSR principles cannot be limited to an ad hoc activity and be treated only as a marketing tool.

To some extent, legal documents can support these efforts. See the next chapter.